Why I Occupy...

... because our democracy has been hijacked. The corporations and special interests pay our politicians to do their bidding instead of the people's. This legal bribery has to stop.

Most of you know that I strongly support a new constitutional amendment that was introduced into Congress to get all special interest money out of our political system. Passing this amendment will require a lot of work, so I continue to occupy and push forward a vision for America that gets rid of undue influence on our political system. Almost every systematic thing that disempowers the poor and enables the rich is a function of our broken democracy. For example, the $15 million the prison industrial complex pays to lobby our politicians to keep unjust dysfunctional drug and other laws on our books is a way they have occupied our democracy. They in turn make many billions off our government by filling their hotels (jails). That's just one of many examples of how money poisons our political system.

Getting the money out of campaigns and promoting public financing for our elections seems like a tall order. But I have faith and I believe our thoughts and actions are prayers. And prayers matter. So along with Rev. Jamal Bryant, Dr. Ben Chavis, David Degraw from OWS, I co-founded "Occupy The Dream" specifically to push for this change in our government, which I know will allow us to reclaim our democracy. It was Dr. Martin Luther King's dream to organize the churches (black civil rights movement), the unions and young, creative Americans to march for economic justice. It with this inspiration that we launched "Occupy The Dream" on the anniversary of his birthday this year.